Perfect Pizza Dough

1. Combine ingredients in a stand mixer, saving a little water.2. Stir until loose dough forms. If it’s too dry, add extra water; if it’s too sticky, add a pinch of flour.3. Start the mixer low, gradually increasing to medium speed until a ball forms, about 30 seconds, then allow it to knead for eight minutes at medium-high.4. Using floured hands, mould dough into a boule-shape. Set on a floured surface and dab with a little olive oil.5. Cover with a damp towel and leave to rise, about 45 minutes to one hour.6. After the dough has risen, shape it into a circle. Drape the dough over your knuckles and rotate, allowing gravity to stretch it.

Kale, Red Onion, and Pistachio Pizza

This recipe offers everything you love about a slice of ‘za without the pesky bad-for-you fats and calories you hate.

Directions:1. Prepare the pizza dough using the recipe above. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F.2. In a small skillet, heat a few drizzles of olive oil, then add the kale and sauté, stirring for several minutes until the kale is wilted.3. When the oven is ready, stretch the dough into a circle. Pull the pizza stone out of the oven and carefully place the dough on top of it.4. Thinly spread the crushed tomatoes over the dough, then add the garlic, vegetables, and pistachios.5. Sprinkle with a dash of kosher salt and transfer the pizza to the oven. Bake until the cheese and crust are nicely browned, about five to seven minutes.

Bonus tip: Topping this pie with pistachios is a surefire way to curb your appetite. Researchers have found that these nutrient-dense nuts can increase satiety and help control body weight.

Don’t worry about the cost of investing in yet another exercise tool — all you need is some duct tape, paint stirring sticks, and 10 minutes of free time.

Step One: Cut two strips of duct tape, each 15 feet in length, and space them on the ground 20-inches apart, sticky side up. Cut four smaller pieces of tape and use them to firmly stick each end of the duct tape strips down.

Thanks to Mad Men’s excessive depiction of alcohol consumption (seriously, were those guys ever sober?), whisky appears to be making its way back into the limelight. When it comes to this luscious liquor, however, it almost seems impossible to know where to begin. To ease any uncertainty, Davin de Kergommeaux, sommelier and author of Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert, shares his knowledge and wisdom to get you well on your way to sipping and savouring the best that whisky has to offer.

Q: Whisky versus whiskey – what’s the difference?A: Although some people differentiate, there really is no difference; these are just two ways to spell the same word – like tire and tyre, donut and doughnut, or colour and color. The best quote I have heard on the topic: “You don’t spell whisky, you savour it.”

Q: What are the differences between bourbon, rye, and scotch?A: There are so many variations, but these are the distinct flavours:

Bourbon is defined by the flavours that come out of the oak, which producers use to make the barrels. The primary flavours you find in wood are caramel and vanilla, so you really taste these in bourbon. You’ll also get a bit of slipperiness or oiliness because it’s made from corn, so there’s a lot of real corn oil.

Scotch is whisky made in Scotland and may be made from malted barley, wheat, corn, or other grains, so you tend to get more cereal flavours. About 95 per cent of all scotch is blended, but single malt is the best known.

Rye is very robust, very spicy, and quite fruity. It also has floral notes, such as lilacs. Canadian rye is whisky made in Canada that has rye flavours. American rye gets all the press, but for every bottle of American rye sold, about 240 bottles of Canadian rye are sold.

Q: Which one is best for beginners? Is there one that is lighter/easier to drink than others?A: Lighter is not always better for beginners. A lot of people love a really strong, smoky scotch, but a lot of other people enjoy a whisky like Jack Daniels, which is very sweet. The theory that you should start with something lighter makes logical sense, but it doesn’t actually work that way. It’s probably better if people sample whisky in a cocktail first to get used to the flavours, then try many to find which ones best suit their own palate.

Q: What’s the difference between single malt, single barrel, and blended? Is there a difference in quality or taste?A: Single malt is whisky made using just one grain: malted barley.

Most whisky is made in batches, which include the contents of hundreds of barrels. Single barrel is the whisky from just one cask or barrel.

Blended whisky is made by mingling a variety of different whiskies. The definition of blended varies from one country to the next. By American law, for example, Canadian whisky is called blended, but here in Canada we simply call it Canadian whisky. An interesting factoid: almost all single malts are “blends” of various malt whiskies, all made in the same distillery.

There are great blends, single malts, and single barrel whiskies, and there are poor ones – it depends on the individual whisky. There is no general rule for quality or that one is better than the other. It’s whatever people enjoy.

Q: What drinking methods are better for quality or taste?A: There is no way that is better than the others. Whisky snobs sometimes try to emulate analytical tasters by sipping their whisky neat from a tulip-shaped glass, but analytical tasting is not a lot of fun and, for me, whisky is meant to be enjoyed, not analyzed. People like to make themselves seem knowledgeable by saying there is a correct way to drink whisky but, in truth, there is not.

Q: Is it true that drinking whisky with water or on the rocks is a big faux-pas because it dilutes the taste?A: This is NOT true. Whisky is meant to be enjoyed and people should not be intimidated into thinking they are doing it wrong. For example, a Tom Collins glass filled to the top with ice and whisky makes a great summer drink for sipping on the deck. Adding ice masks some of the harsher flavours, especially the alcohol. Ice greatly improves some whiskies, including many single malts. Also, adding water releases certain flavours that are not otherwise detectable. In the lab, whisky is generally diluted to 20 per cent to get the maximum flavour.

There are still many myths floating around when it comes to hair loss, and there’s nothing Jeff Donovan, MD, PhD, a board-certified dermatologist and president of the Canadian Hair Loss Foundation, loves more than setting his clients straight at his private practice in Toronto. Here’s a few that top the list:

1. Genetic hair loss comes from mom’s side of the family. While there’s some basis for this common myth, since an important gene involved in hair loss comes from the X chromosome (which men get from their mothers) there are over 25 genes that play a role in hair loss, and these come from both sides of the family.

2. Stress contributes to hair loss. “Unless it’s high-magnitude stress related to the loss of a job or a death in the family, stress doesn’t usually contribute to hair loss in most people,” says Donovan.

3. Wearing a hat. Plain and simple, “This, in fact, has very little bearing on hair loss,” says Donovan.

4. Shampooing frequently leads to hair loss. No, it doesn’t. Consider this permission to get sudsy all you want.

In an age where sugar has a bad rap and people generally go crazy for calorie-free sweeteners, understanding what all of the hype is about will keep you in control of your health and your food choices.

Isolating The Good

Natural sugars, which come from all-natural sources like fruit and honey (fructose), vegetables (some more than others), starches and 100-per cent whole grains (potatoes, corn, pasta, oats, beans, and legumes), and milk and yogurt (lactose), are the best choice and easiest for your body to digest. But can you still have too much of a good thing? Absolutely. At the end of the day, if calories in (from food energy, even natural sources) are greater than calories out (activity, including exercise) there will be a surplus, leading to weight gain.

What’s With All The Hype?

Added sugars and artificial sweeteners are currently wreaking havoc on our food system and our waistlines, but that’s not to say we must avoid them altogether. After all, we know what happens when you tell someone they can’t have something. Let’s set some things straight so that you feel empowered to make the best choices for your health.

First, added sugars can include from anything ending in –ose, even if they come from natural sources. A label for cereal, granola bars, or sweet treats that says “no added sugar” technically does have added sugars if the product includes honey or agave in the ingredients list. It’s up to you to be consumer-savvy and read the ingredient lists of all pre-packaged foods.

Second, artificial sweeteners are just that – artificial. They are chemically processed products designed to bring about a desired outcome – in this case, a product that is 25 to 700 times sweeter than granulated sugar. Artificial sweeteners grab people’s attention because they are calorie-free. Five are approved for use by Health Canada: acesulfame potassium, aspartame (Equal), cyclamate (Sucryl, Sugar Twin, Sweet ‘N Low), saccharin, and sucralose, as well as stevia, a natural low-calorie sweetener. Unfortunately, they all lack long-term data from human studies and most are not recommended for use during pregnancy – that’s reason enough for many people to stay away from them.

These non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS) have been available for years, marketed to people wanting to lose weight or those living with diabetes to help control their blood-sugar levels. The research that backed these claims was astounding and quickly embraced when these sweeteners were first introduced. What wasn’t clearly identified, however, was the weakness of the studies; certain variables were not isolated for and the studies were not carried out for long enough periods of time. We are now seeing research showing that people who regularly consume NAS have a history of weight gain and an increased risk of blood sugar problems. Studies are also being done on the effects of these sweeteners on gut and brain health.

Most long-term research looking at artificial sweetener use has been done using rats or mice, showing anything from a higher risk of cancer to weight gain or blood glucose issues. The evidence from human studies is still preliminary, but it’s there.

This is reason enough to query the safety and validity of their daily use.

Putting It Into Perspective

When you consume artificially sweetened foods, your body’s messaging system sends signals telling your brain that it is getting fuel (sugar and energy). When your body then recognizes that it has not received the fuel (since the sweeteners are non-caloric), overconsumption of calories may occur, as your brain demands some real power. By this time, however, your focus may be so unsettled that poor food choices are made, leading to increased calories and ultimately to weight gain.

So, just like everything in our food world these days, there is an overabundance of NAS products. It’s up to you to continue to gain the sound knowledge to help you stay on track and keep you empowered in your food choices.

Andrea Falcone is a private practice dietitian working within Peel, Halton, and the Greater Toronto Area.

It’s been an ongoing area of debate for years: just what should the ideal body type look like for each sport? From plain old anthropometrics, you can gather that similar characteristics make athletes more suited to certain sports or activities than others. Take, for instance, the lower centres of gravity and light body weight of a gymnast versus the large feet and long bodies of elite swimmers, or the long torso and shorter extremities of Olympic lifters versus the portly build of most powerlifters. The list goes on.

It’s hard to define an ideal musculature that builds the perfect athlete in any sport. If we take things back to high school track and field (and even college track, to a certain degree), an irrefutable trend was that the largest, strongest athletes were the ones who won races — every time. The same was true for high school basketball, volleyball, and football. Strength and size generally prevailed over anything else.

Since the early 2000s, there has been a general “evolution” when it comes to the training styles of most professional athletes, and some carry much more muscle than their counterparts from decades ago. Looking at it this way, there’s definitely a case to be made that being stronger and carrying more muscle creates benefits to being an athlete in today’s sports world. But there’s a dark side.

Along with training to bulk up comes side effects that can negatively affect an athlete’s progress, if proper care isn’t taken. Here are the main ones.

You Lose Mobility

This is especially true if you train for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (that’s making the muscles grow in terms of voluminous size through higher-volume, bodybuilder-type training). The added surface area will reduce your mobility levels, even more so if your size gain happens in a shorter period of time. Remember that every goal you pursue usually comes at the expense of another — it’s nearly impossible to work toward multiple goals simultaneously.

You Lose Flexibility

This is the easiest attribute to lose with an increase in your volume of weight training, especially for size. A number of rep methods in the world of hypertrophy training involve partial ranges of motion, mostly for experienced lifters who know why they’re using such techniques. Getting a “pump” makes muscles tighter, more often. Along with mobility, flexibility tends to decrease as your size increases.

Your Conditioning May Drop

This goes without saying. While you gain weight and possibly avoid cardio in order to maintain your bulk, your conditioning will take a hit. Many weight-training aficionados argue that performing high-intensity training and keeping an eye on rest times are enough for keeping or improving your levels of conditioning. These methods are indeed effective, but they don’t substitute getting out and moving like an athlete. Playing the actual sport is what makes athletes really look the way they do — and that’s what occupies 75 per cent of any sports athlete’s time, where training is concerned.

NBA superstars LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony both trimmed down around the 2014 season, with significant decreases in body weight. Although James said it was more of a personal challenge for him that had nothing to do with basketball, he was quick to admit that it positively affected his game, making him quicker and able to fly above the rim more effectively. Anthony was in it for improved fitness. They’re on to something.

This is the part where a person with poor reading skills takes select fragments from the above passage and confirms that strength coach Lee Boyce is saying “no” to building muscle. That’s not what I’m saying.

What you can take away from all of this is that more muscle is good. Being stronger is good. Both will improve your chances of athletic success if the right protocol is being taken when training for those goals. Making sure your mobility and flexibility are given the attention they need and remembering to play your sport make up two of the most important things someone looking to gain size can do. Even 10 added pounds of useful mass can translate onto the court or field in a big way. Athletes need bodies that can move. Training with the primal patterns through complete ranges of motion will always take first place over isolation training and partial reps. Beware of the warning signs, don’t train like a fool, and proceed to get big and strong.

Lee Boyce is a strength coach and internationally published fitness writer based in Toronto. Check out his website for more.

]]>http://www.insidefitnessmag.com/to-bulk-or-not-to-bulk/feed/0Why We Eat More When We Drinkhttp://www.insidefitnessmag.com/why-we-eat-more-when-we-drink/
http://www.insidefitnessmag.com/why-we-eat-more-when-we-drink/#commentsWed, 29 Jul 2015 04:00:50 +0000http://www.insidefitnessmag.com/?p=10705Read More]]>You’re a few beers in, you’re feeling buzzed, and now you’re stomach’s starting to grumble. You’re craving food, and for some reason it’s never grilled chicken and rice, but rather pizza, handfuls of chips, or a greasy burger and fries. And let’s be honest, if you can figure out how to get that junk food in front of you, you’ll be indulging ASAP. But now we’re wondering why this need to scarf down high-calorie snacks always accompanies a night of drinking, and American researchers have the answer!

A new study from Indiana University has released research suggesting that bingeing on booze heightens our brain’s response to aromas, making crave-worthy eats smell even better.

Known as the ‘Aperitif Effect‘ this phenomenon refers to the increased calorie intake which often results from heightened alcohol consumption. While many studies have tried to solve this appetite-enhancing mystery, this is the first one to look more closely at the role played by the brain.

35 female participants were administered with either an IV drip of alcohol or a placebo. Then their brain activity was monitored in order to assess responses to both food and non-food scents. Scans revealed that those who received the alcohol drip had a stronger response to food-based fragrances due to reactions in the hypothalamus, which is responsible for regulating numerous metabolic processes within the body.

“Our study found that alcohol exposure can both increase the brain’s sensitivity to external food cues, like aromas, and result in greater food consumption,” reveals the study’s lead author, William Eiler. “Many alcoholic beverages already include empty calories, and when you combine those calories with the aperitif effect, it can lead to energy imbalance and possibly weight gain.”

An exercise is not just an exercise — it’s a tool used to complete a specific job. And much like an exercise is a tool to a better, stronger body, there are several others that can be added or utilized to modify an exercise, depending on your goal. Some of my favourites, and the pros and cons associated with them, are accessible and readily available. Here’s how to use them best.

Resistance Bands

My favourite way to use resistance bands is by varying the amount of resistance felt when performing extension-oriented movements like presses, squats, and deadlifts. They can also be effective for applying the principle of pre- or post-exhaustion to the rear delts by doing pull-aparts before or after working on that area.

Pull-aparts, for those unfamiliar, are performed exactly as they sound: simply hold the band in front of you and pull the ends apart. These exercises are not physically demanding in any way, and can therefore be used with extremely high frequency (i.e. multiple times a day).

The reason I like to use bands for extension-oriented movements is because they match the “strength curve” to the “resistance curve.” Every exercise has these. For example: when lifting a barbell, the resistance is the same, irrespective of how high off the ground it is lifted, but the amount of weight we feel is greater or lesser, depending on the relative angle of the involved joints. This is why a squat feels much harder at the bottom range of motion than at the top. Resistance bands are the great equalizer in that, as our leverage improves and our capacity to produce force increases, the resistance is increased as well, creating a more well-rounded movement, or what I like to call a more “appropriate” movement. For example, when performing a biceps curl, you’re going to get the most resistance at the top of your motion, which is right where you want it. As you bring the barbell toward the floor, however, the resistance in the band will weaken.

The biggest downside to using resistance bands when performing extension-oriented movements is that they increase the deceleration demand during the lowering of the weight, and this can create quite a large amount of muscle damage. For this reason, I suggest not using resistance bands for more than two consecutive workouts for the same lift.

To increase the intensity of a lift, you can also combine both elastic resistance and free-weight resistance by attaching or looping bands around your bar or dumbbell and anchoring it; this way, you not only focus more on the pace and form of each rep, but you get added “weight” as you lift.

Lifting Chains

Chains are similar to bands in that they are best used to vary the amount of resistance felt when performing extension-oriented movements, only they don’t try to pull you down into the floor with as much intensity, and therefore are not as demanding eccentrically. For this reason, chains can be used more frequently and consistently than resistance bands. To incorporate chains in an exercise, squats are a great place to start. They can be looped around the bar or hung straight down on either end and will serve as additional resistance to whatever weight you’re already working with. Another way to use them is by hanging them off your body when performing just about any exercise for some added resistance.

Fat Gripz

Increasing the diameter of your grip enhances the demand on the muscles of the hand and forearm, which is very advantageous for those who need to prioritize grip strength, such as grapplers, although everyone would benefit from greater grip strength. For pressing movements, I find it much easier to stabilize the load with a thicker handle, as the surface area to press into is more thoroughly distributed throughout my hand, which facilitates stability, thus enabling me to lift with more force.

The biggest downside to increasing the diameter of the handle is the trade-off in the amount of weight you would otherwise be able to use. With a smaller handle, or one in which it was easier to hold onto, more weight can be used to overload the targeted musculature, which is what you want if that’s your goal. So the determining factor in whether or not Fat Gripz are appropriate for you comes down to your goal: increased grip strength, or overloading on the targeted musculature.

Straps

Straps enable you to use more weight than would otherwise be possible (due to relatively weak grip strength), which is ideal for overloading the targeted musculature. For exercises like deadlifts, T-bar rows, and pull-ups, straps enable you to increase the demand placed on the lats and various other back muscles, which otherwise wouldn’t be possible. The biggest downside to using straps is that, since your grip doesn’t have to do its own work, it will naturally get weaker over time, so avoid using straps unless you feel it absolutely necessary to overload the targeted area.

Weight Belts

There are two types of weight belts I like: those which increase core stability, and those which allow for loads to be added to the body to increase the resistance placed on the targeted musculature when performing body-weight exercises, like chin-ups or dips. Like straps, I only use them for support so that the targeted musculature can be safely overloaded. Overreliance on weight belts can lead to a decrease in core strength and altered recruitment patterns, which will negatively affect performance without the belt.

As for belts that allow you to incorporate additional weight when performing body-weight exercises, they can be continuously used for as long as necessary, as there’s no real negative side effect to using them to increase the demand placed on the targeted area.

Vince Del Monte is a fitness model, transformation coach, and writer. Visit his website for more.

Evening starts with dinner and ends with you going to bed — plus an optional mid-evening snack in between. If you’ve been playing your carbohydrate cards right during the day (and by “right” we mean tapering off slowly with the bulk of your carbs consumed prior to dinner), then you can make up that caloric void from carbs with some healthy fats and a source of slow-releasing protein.

Omega-3 fatty acids

If you, like many, are not a big fish eater, then you may want to strongly consider taking an omega-3 supplement with dinner. These healthy fats can have heart-protective effects and can lower triglyceride levels while also working to reduce inflammation, stiffness, and joint pain. If that’s not enough, a high intake of omega 3s has also been associated with improved insulin sensitivity, which is a huge bonus for fat loss and overall health.

Casein protein powder

As a final mid-evening snack (optional depending on your macro profile) many physique enthusiasts opt for something high in protein while relatively low in carbs, fats, and overall calories, given the proximity to bedtime. As a complete source of protein, casein fits the bill. A type of milk protein, casein is found in dairy products like cottage cheese, yogurt, and, of course, milk. While you could go with a serving of full- or low-fat cottage cheese, a serving of fat-free plain Greek yogurt, or a glass of skim milk, you could also mix up a delicious casein protein shake and call it a night.